Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 Back in February 2013, one of the best social media campaigns to-date unfolded as the world experienced a 34-minute blackout during the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII. During this time, Oreo came up with a simple ad stating, “You can still dunk in the dark,” that immediately went viral, produced by a small team of their marketing professionals that were waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. This quick hit generated 15,000 retweets and 20,000 new followers on Facebook within two days. It also received more buzz than some of the most expensive commercial ads during the big game. Oreo knocked this on-a-whim campaign out of the park because their team dove inside the brains of Superbowl viewers to locate their target audience (who were all posting on their social media accounts in an enraged state) and they didn’t waste any time doing so. Their plan was to reinforce brand awareness by driving engagement through social media, which was ultimately a success. How do you determine what successful social media presence is? The criteria is vague; depending on company size and products/services offered. However, there are determining factors that can differentiate a social media strategy that’s going in the right direction versus one that is going nowhere fast. The difference is the time put into it and how much you engage your audience. A “set it and forget it” strategy doesn’t work with social media. You may think that social media success can be defined as being a small business with 500 “likes” on Facebook and 1,000 followers on Twitter. You can have thousands of “likes”, but without putting an effort into engaging with your audience, those “likes” mean nothing. If your audience isn’t interacting with your social media, they might as well hit the “unlike” or “unfollow” button. It looks great to have a decent following and to build brand awareness, but what drives website visits, lead generation and customer loyalty is engagement, not just the cosmetics of your social media presence. How can you better engage your audience? Take these social media tips into consideration: 1) Keep Up With Posting and Responding What’s the point of setting up your social media profiles if you’re not going to keep up with them? Too often, I’ve visited a social media business page that hasn’t been updated in weeks, months or years. What is even worse is a page that has a lot of audience feedback that is not responded to. It immediately makes me think that the particular business: Doesn’t exist anymore Doesn’t value social media (and how could they not?!) Doesn’t have anything interesting to talk about Doesn’t care about the opinion of their audience According to TweetSmarter, 85% of customers expect businesses to be active in social media. At the very least, try to post twice per week to all platforms and try to respond to a comment within a couple hours. The shelf-life of a social media post is only about three hours, so it’s key to act fast. 2) Use These Simple Ways to Drive Engagement Like I said earlier, what you get out of your social media presence is what you put in. Once you’ve built the framework for your social media presence, boost engagement with these tactics: Ask your audience questions. It has been found that asking questions drive social media engagement up 10-20 percent. Questions that require a “yes” or “no” answer are more likely to be responded to, but “which would you prefer?” and open-ended questions do well also. Asking questions show interest in the audience… and they enjoy knowing you care. Add incentives to trigger action. Why should your audience take the time to engage with you? If they’re ready and willing to give feedback without an incentive, that’s great and means that you’re doing your job right. If it’s like pulling teeth to get a post shared, offer something valuable to your audience. Invest in holding a contest like the one below; these are almost always capable of building a following and your audience will come back looking for more of these: Become a resource to your community. Provide useful content that will benefit your readers. They are more likely to naturally share your content if you provide them with something valuable. An example would be an informative tips blog post, a free e-book or checklist. Post visually stimulating items to get noticed. Photos and videos are more noticeable in a newsfeed and more likely to have an audience member connect with the post to drive shares, likes and comments. 3) Abide by These Do’s and Don’ts There is a fine line between the do’s and don’ts of social media engagement. Just make sure you always use your best judgment when responding to audience feedback. Keep these key points in mind: DO: Keep your engagement-focused posts shorter. It has been found that 100 to 119 characters are optimal for driving feedback. Address any audience negativity in a timely manner. You want to keep the best interest of your readers in mind! Keep a professional but personable tone. Be accurate by staying on top of current events. Continue to build your social media network. DON’T: Promote your business too often. You want to be positioned as a subject-matter expert, not as a pushy salesperson. Stay within the walls of your social media profiles. Reach out to other communities and engage with other content as well. Aimlessly post cookie-cutter comments that will make the author question your interest. If you’re going to provide feedback, take the time to explain your thoughts. The reader will appreciate it! Bash competitors or speak negatively. Strengthen your image with positivity. Make spelling mistakes or use poor grammar. Even though you’re participating in genuine conversation, you are still the voice of your business. 4) Remember that Participation is Key for Driving Engagement What is social media without participation? In addition to asking questions, being resourcefuland adding incentives to your social media strategy, you must participate with others to get your brand noticed while also giving back to the community. 56% of businesses have built new partnerships through social media after investing as few as 6 hours per week. Become an active participant by doing the following: Join relevant online communities (I find LinkedIn groups to be extremely helpful… but any forums or message boards will do) Subscribe to industry-related RSS feeds to easily pinpoint content you’d want to read and engage Be sincere; offer your opinion and ask questions to the author. They will appreciate it and may entice them to read your content. If you genuinely enjoy someone else’s work, share it! They will most likely return the favor. If the author responds to one of your questions, be courteous and keep up with the conversation. Once you’ve established a decent following on social media, incorporate these tips into your social media strategy to break into the world of engagement. It’s amazing what some effort can do—and the impact it has on increasing your brand awareness, website traffic and social connections. To learn more about how you can improve your social media strategy or how GRM can implement an integrated strategy to increase leads and drive sales through social media, contact us here. After all, it’s all about being social! Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on Grass Roots Marketing Blog and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Author: Kelly ShepskoView full profile ›More by this author:How To Create Effective Landing Pages For Facebook Ad Campaigns3 Simple Ways to Speed Up Your Social Media MarketingSocial Media Advertising: The New Kid on the Inbound Marketing Block